Main Menu

The New Look Of Detroit’s Oldest High School

April 04 2012 | no comments

One organization is partnering with five Detroit high schools to improve student results and increase the graduation rate. One of the schools is Central Collegiate Academy–Detroit’s oldest high school.

A health clinic…a recording studio…a tv studio..and a courtroom.

It’s all part of the new look of Detroit’s first high school–Central Collegiate Academy.

“We’ve made great strides here and I can clearly see it,” CCA principal Stephen McGhee told Detroit 2020.

Central was one of the city’s poorest performing schools.

Then, EDWorks was brought in.

“When you come into a situation like Central or any high school you’re trying to help out, you have to figure out what are the conditions we can change—the environment, the culture, the climate, graduation rate, the practices,” EDWorks coach Randall Sampson said.

EDWorks is a turnaround and development organization which is a part of Knowledgeworks.

((SOT—Harold Brown, President, EDWorks))

“It’s not about coming in and telling teachers they’ve been wrong for 30 years, or 20 years,” said Harold Brown, president of EDWorks.

EDWorks coaches spend about 60 days each school year in the building coaching the principal, meeting with teachers, and setting up partnerships in the community, like the one with the St. John Providence Health System that brought a health clinic to the school.

So far, the results are impressive, but there’s still work to be done.

“The graduation rate went from an all time low of 24 percent in 2002 to last year at 64 percent–above the state average for African-American kids,” Sampson said.

Central Collegiate Academy is still considered a low-performing school, so this fall, it will become part of a new statewide district.